WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - No. 24 Wake Forest has earned a bid to the 2013 NCAA Tennis Championships and will open the tournament against No. 37 Northwestern on May 10 in Athens, Ga. on the campus of the University of Georgia.

The Demon Deacons (20-8) and the Wildcats (21-9) will face off at the Dan Magill Tennis Center with the winner of that match taking on the winner of the first-round match between No. 3 seed Georgia and Binghamton.

"Northwestern is a very good team," said head coach Tony Bresky. "They were able to beat NC State and Virginia Tech - we have a lot of respect for both those teams and we had tough matches against them. It's a tough draw, as every draw is in the NCAA Tournament, so we'll train hard here the next couple weeks and hopefully play our best match of the season."

The Deacons return to the NCAA Championship for the 12th time in the past 13 years after taking a one-year hiatus last season. They will be making their first NCAA appearance under second-year head coach Tony Bresky.

The Deacs have advanced as far as the Round of 16 twice - in 2007 and 2009. Wake Forest has traveled to Athens for the tournament on two previous occasions, for the 2007 Round of 16 and the 2008 First Round.

The Demon Deacons earned a third place finish in the ACC regular season and finished second in the 2013 ACC Championship, knocking off No. 9 Duke in the semifinals before falling to No. 2 Virginia in the final.

The Wildcats tied for fifth place in the Big Ten this season and reached the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.

Wake Forest has faced Northwestern on one previous occasion in the postseason, beating the Wildcats 4-0 in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Championship.